There are existing apparatus which can secure flexible material around a variety of individual items to form a bundle.
In Mirfield, U.S. Pat. No. 2,596,862 pipes, tubes and the like can be bundled together by welding the ends together. In Countryman, U.S. Pat. No. 3,489,076 apparatus automatically straps a bundle of cables together by a closure member which holds the ends together. In Evans, U.S. Pat. No. 2,088,133 wire can be wrapped and secured around a box by welding.
In Mecker, U.S. Pat. No. 3,247,781, an automatic machine for tying or bailing uses a ring to place the tying material tightly around a package.
In Mills, U.S. Pat. Des. 220,001 and Des. 220,210 illustrate a curved arm which is pivotally mounted above an opening in a table top.
In Bartzich et al U.S. Pat. No. 4,527,379 apparatus for positioning and tensioning a plastic strapping band around a package and connecting the overlapping ends by not bonding is described.
A side binder nursery tyer Model BMNS manufactured by the Saxmayer company teaches the use of an arcuate needle to wrap a line around nursery stock being held by an operator which ties the ends of the line into a knot to secure the nursery stock into a bundle.
None of these previous inventions recognize or teaches: the use of a clip to attach the ends of a line about stock to form a bundle, the use of a dancer arm and air motor to pull the line tight before attachment, the further tightening of the lines around the bundle before the attachment of the clip to further compact the bundle, the use of a multi-element gripper to grip the end of the line securely after tightening and before clip attachment to securely grip the lines as the clip is being attached, or the use of pneumatic logic to coordinate the operations.